Anyone wanna settle an arguement?

[Mog]

Long story short:
My brothers function band got a last minute call for a wedding at the weekend. He's convinced that their bass rig is not powerful enough for the venue and wants to borrow some of my kit.
The bassist in the band uses a LH 500 with an 8ohm vx410 cab (should be plenty loud IMO), but my bro still reckons they'll need the full 500 watts and asked for one of my 4ohm ampeg cabs. I've offered him a mag 410 (450 watts @ 8ohm).

So anyways, the arguement from his side is that the Ashdown (450 watt) and the Hartke (400 watt) cabs will be getting too much juice as the head will be kicking out 500 watts.
I've countered with the fact that the cabs wont in fact be getting the max load each, rather a near 50/50 split in power from the head (250 watts approx each)
but he is not buying into the idea. I've tried explaining that if he connected two 16 ohm cabs that approx 350 watts would be shared between the cabs, etc etc.

Any chance of some quick confirmations from ya'll.

(BTW, if I'm totally wrong in my thinking I'm goona look like a right arse aint I, what with him being a drummer an' all! )

[casapete]

Think you're right mate!
The cabs will share the output equally between them if they are the same impedance i.e. both 8ohms.

[pantherairsoft]

The amp runs 500w at 4ohms.

2x 8ohm cabs make a 4ohm draw and the load is split between the 2. The split won't always be 50/50 but close enough.

The combination you have listed will give them the full 500w that the amp can give and neither of the cabs will take more than 250-300w meaning they have loads of headroom as well.

You sir are correct!

Its worth noting though that what he is using would prob be enough unless they play huge venues, by just balancing the bands volumes better and learning how to make the most out of your tone. Even positioning of the cab can male a huge difference.

Edited August 9, 2010 by pantherairsoft

[chris_b]

We don't settle arguements here. We keep em going for weeks!!

By the way, you are right! Plus more speakers will give more volume and a better tone.

[Pete Academy]

Yes sir, you are indeed correct.

[Mr. Foxen]

If he wants to use a single cab, the full power can in theory be drawn by the 4ohm cab, but it will fart out long before that much power is hitting it anyway. I think he wants to use a single cab. If he wants to be loud, best using both.

[Mog]

Copy, paste, print. Thank you gentlemen. And to the rest of you who are replying as i type.

[essexbasscat]

Where are they having the wedding, Wembley ? that's got to be some HUGE venue

[Paul_C]

it's "argument" - what do you stand to win ?

[Dood]

+1 on all the above - and if we're really picking details - even though both cabinets are sharing the input power near enough equally, one cabinet *may* sound louder than the other if it's sensitivity is a higher figure.

For example I would expect my old Epifani cab at ~104dB sensitivity to appear far louder with the same amp settings than my old Hartke 4.5XL at ~99dB. A difference of +6dB is said to be twice the volume.

[Daquifsta]

Also, don't let him mix your 4 ohm cab with his 8 ohm - that actually adds up to 2.6 ohms as far as the amp is concerned, which is very bad news!

Edit: Some amps are ok down to 2 ohms (older Peaveys for example, IIRC) but these Hartke ones aren't (I have the LH1000, which is kind of like a pair of LH500's)

Edited August 9, 2010 by Daquifsta

[Mog]

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='920075' date='Aug 9 2010, 09:10 PM']Where are they having the wedding, Wembley ? that's got to be some HUGE venue [/quote]
I think their PA is a bit pants at the mo. Also the bassist was kinda thrown into the role and I think she cant get used to the idea of the tone stack and how it can lower/raise output.

[quote name='Paul_C' post='920076' date='Aug 9 2010, 09:13 PM']it's "argument" - what do you stand to win ?

[/quote]
I'm a scientist, I dont need them spelt proper words! We just use numbers and letters to confuse everyone else Everyone wants to get one up on their bro dont they?

[quote name='dood' post='920086' date='Aug 9 2010, 09:24 PM']+1 on all the above - and if we're really picking details - even though both cabinets are sharing the input power near enough equally, one cabinet *may* sound louder than the other if it's sensitivity is a higher figure.

For example I would expect my old Epifani cab at ~104dB sensitivity to appear far louder with the same amp settings than my old Hartke 4.5XL at ~99dB. A difference of +6dB is said to be twice the volume.[/quote]
I'm a scientist, because sound is emitted spherically from a source the figure is more like 3dB.......... I think we've had this conversation before??
I think you are right about the sensitivity too. He still aint getting my Ampeg cabs

Cheers for the input guys.